Hempy, 400 watt Tent, and a Dream!

This is a first time indoor grow.
I stumbled onto this site while searching for some indoor grow suggestions about 6 weeks ago. The site got me fired up about trying Hempy. Here's the start:

Hempy mix: 75% Perlite, 25% Vermiculite
Containers: 3 Gallon garbage cans
Lighting: 400 Watt HPS/MH Air cooled light, 8 23W CFL's (6500k)
Tent: 4X4X 6.3 mylar
Nutes: NSR Greenleaves Bloom Juice, Grow Juice, Boost Juice, Ak Morbloom
Ak fish fertilizer, Scott's 15-15-15, CAL MAG, and random others

This grow started with a seed order from Marijuana-seeds.nl for some Top 44. There were a few mystery seeds on my workbench in the garage as well. The top 44 went 0/10 for germination. The freebies were 3/3 (Royal Hash). So....it looks like Royal Hash and a couple of bagseed.

At this point, I had a 4 pack of CFL's and the flourescent tubes that I used to jumpstart our outdoor vegetable garden and a spot cleared out for a trial run.

I kept reading on here and seeing these beautiful buds. Hmmm, a 4 pack of CFL's aren't really gonna get close to producing what I want for personal use. It was time to order a light. The 400 Watt thread inspired me to pick up a combo MH/HPS. Shipping to AK is problematic so I ordered a free shipper from Amazon.com. It get here and I realize that I don't have enough space....time to order a tent.

4X4 tent arrives. At this point, I have 2 Royal Hash and a random bagseed left (gave a royal hash and a bagseed plant to a buddy for experimentation.

I set up the tent, added the light, an oscillating fan, and 3 plants.

Nirvana seed order arrived. I quickly germed a couple of those and got them into hempy buckets.

There are a lot of experiments going on with this grow. The bagseed and the royal hash plants are my test dummies. I will be shocked if they make it to harvest.

For a comparison, I placed one of the germinated RH seeds straight into the hempy mix. The other RH and bagseed were placed in Jiffy pellets and placed on a heat mat under a hooded CFL until it was almost touching the clear cover. These two were then placed in 12 oz cups filled with hempy mix and fed straight water until they hit a growth spurt (roots reached reservoir in bottom of cup?). I let them beef up for 3 days, then transferred to 3 gallon trash bins filled with Hempy mix where they grew for 10 days under CFL's.

The growth difference between the RH seed that was placed straight into hempy and the seed that was placed in the jiffy cup was (still is)significant. The jiffy cup plant has grown 3x faster than the seed placed straight into hempy. I'll be using the jiffy cups until a better method is shown.

I topped the bagseed and the jiffy cup RH, then started lst'ing. The goal in this is to match canopy heights with the two added plants from Nirvana. I've tried to burn the RH and bagseed to find the tolerances. I haven't went above full strength. So far, these plants don't want to burn.

Here are a couple of pics of the trial round. I have an ak-48 that I'll be transplanting today. I'll pull one of the Nirvana's out that's a random female as well. These two ladies will be going into a CFL mom and clone chamber.

Suggestions greatly appreciated with rep given for useful information.

Here's the dream:

I hope to become self-sufficient by Independence Day!

RH topped and twisted, bag seed, RH grown straight in Hempy, Female Nirvana mix



If you see something that's obviously fucked up, please let me know. I really have no idea what I'm doing.

Lessons learned so far: 1. Use square or round bins. These goofy shapes are not conducive to dynamic organization. 2. add more mix than you think you need. It compresses. I've lost 2-3 inches in each container. 3. More small holes drain better than 1 big hole. Contrary to what I've read, more small holes work better @ this stage of growth. 4. Deal with smell right away. I made a carbon scrubber out of a shop vac filter and some parts from the hardware store, similar to this one.

I'm adding an Ak to the mix. Here it is:
View attachment 1466320

looks like good things to come

Here's a quick update. I've had acceptable growth over the last 4 days. Here's an update. How is this mixed bag looking? I'll be out of town for a few days next week and have concerns about the seedling. I knew better....just couldn't help myself.

This is my first attempt @ LST. I figured I could make a ring of meristems and allow the middle to fill in. I'll flip the hours in 2 weeks for 4 of the plants (premature?). The small indica and the seedling are going into a mother/baby unit filled with flourescents and cfl's.

If you took the time to open this journal, please add a suggestion, comment, joke, or riddle!
How is the node spacing, canopy growth (I've done a bit of trimming), general health, etc...

+ rep for help

Girdweed said:

Here's a quick update. I've had acceptable growth over the last 4 days. Here's an update. How is this mixed bag looking? I'll be out of town for a few days next week and have concerns about the seedling. I knew better....just couldn't help myself.

Click to expand...

Girdweed said:

This is my first attempt @ LST. I figured I could make a ring of meristems and allow the middle to fill in. I'll flip the hours in 2 weeks for 4 of the plants (premature?). The small indica and the seedling are going into a mother/baby unit filled with flourescents and cfl's.

If you took the time to open this journal, please add a suggestion, comment, joke, or riddle!
How is the node spacing, canopy growth (I've done a bit of trimming), general health, etc...

+ rep for help

Click to expand...

I've been hearing a little bit about hempy grows on RIU but this is the first thread that actually made it simple for me to understand. I'll research it some more now that I know it might be something I'd like to try. All the plants in your pictures are hempy? You plants look great

MsBBB said:

All the plants in your pictures are hempy?

Click to expand...

They are all hempy. I have determined that using the fine vermiculite is a no-no. It all sinks to the middle/bottom and makes a nearly impenetrable barrier. I'll be repotting the known female plant in the next couple of days.

I posted this question on the New Growers section, but I'll ask it of you. You mentioned that using the fine vermiculite is not recommended. I've only seen vermiculite in the small size. What about using the larger pieces of perlite. I can purchase the larger size pellets from my local Grow Store in bulk, but the smaller size I would have to get from the local Home Depot/Lowes etc. in small bags. I can't wait to get a clone to try this.

I have only used the bulk perlite. The bigger pieces are better (in theory) because there is more space between the pieces for air to mix with the h20. That's the beauty of hempy. You water, feed, and relax. This is my first indoor grow. I tried to butcher a couple of the first plants that I started. I jacked the ph up, then down. I tried to nute burn. I tried to overwater. There are 5 different varieties going in this grow.

Japanfreak had an interesting guide for making hempy.

I'll post a few pics of the hempy bucket process later tonight.

I hope this helps.

msbbb, thanks for tagging along.

Girdweed said:

Japanfreak had an interesting guide for making hempy.

I'll post a few pics of the hempy bucket process later tonight. I hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I've already check out Japanfreak and his Idiot's Guide to Hempy:
http://weed-forums.com/archive/index.php/t-20954.html

Not trying to take over your thread, but this is new to me and I have questions. You have been very helpful, your entire thread has been helpful in regards to hempy bucket growing. I have to figure out what nutes I should use then I'm off to the Grow Store. Thanks again, I can't give you anymore +reps, at least for now

Definitely intriguing... staying tuned as I wanna try this out.

I can't be of much help with the nute selection. The guy at the grow store will be far more helpful with nute selection than I.

Square 3 gallon buckets would probably work better than trash bins for growing. Good luck. I'd be interested in following your grow as well.

As an FYI, attitude seed bank is having a gimmick sale that starts tonight and runs for the next few days. Anybody picking up some new flavors?

I'll add two from Barney's, G13 Haze and LSD, Frisian from Dutch Passion, and maybe some Alphakroniks.

I'm stoked about the LSD from Barney's. Exotic strains are pretty elusive up here.

Yeah, saw that, if I could trust Chic. customs to let it through, I would spend more money on seeds. So far, Sannies is the only that has gotten through. I am literally toying with the idea to traveling to obtain some beans. If I hadn't just gone to the UK this past summer, I would go to Europe, but I really can't stomach being in coach twelve hours! Does anyone know if you can buy seed in Canada?

Back to the Hempy buckets... I purchased a number of buckets at Dollar tree for a buck each. They are stamped 2.5 gals on the bottom, but when filled to the brim, measure 2.87 gals. They are round, only drawback is they are black... but, I transplant into them when flowering, so they are covered by canopy quickly. They look like they would work great as hempy buckets.

Indicator said:

Back to the Hempy buckets... I purchased a number of buckets at Dollar tree for a buck each. They are stamped 2.5 gals on the bottom, but when filled to the brim, measure 2.87 gals. They are round, only drawback is they are black... but, I transplant into them when flowering, so they are covered by canopy quickly. They look like they would work great as hempy buckets.

Click to expand...

I bought about 10 of these (with the white rope type handle) for growing but decided that I didn't want to use them. I didn't want to take the time to drill holes in them, I also bought about 6 of the 1.5 gallon pails . My first thought when I decided that I was going to try Hempy Bucket growing was to use those pails. I can take the time to drill 1 or 2 holes. What is the drawback of the pails being the color black? I thought that the darker the color the better so that light would not penetrate and mess with the root system? Thanks for doing the measuring, it's good to know that the pails are closer to 3 gallons and not 2.5 gallons.

Girdweed said:

As an FYI, attitude seed bank is having a gimmick sale that starts tonight and runs for the next few days. Anybody picking up some new flavors? I'll add two from Barney's, G13 Haze and LSD, Frisian from Dutch Passion, and maybe some Alphakroniks. I'm stoked about the LSD from Barney's. Exotic strains are pretty elusive up here.

Click to expand...

Any suggestions for someone who does not know much about the best and different strains, and more importantly, easier growing stains? I'd like to get in on this Attitude freebie, but don't know what to get. I was thinking about finding a strain that sells for $50 US, just enough to get me the freebies.

I actually don't have a problem with the black, just mentioned it as I have read people saying they act as a heat sink. Definitely gonna try this, for at least one specimen. I am very good at micro-managing... so watering by hand is no problem, I do it anyway.
As far as strains go, not much help here. I have three of Sannie's selections and 20 years worth of bag seeds... too bad I didn't take notes on potency. Lord knows what I would do for some of that Paonia bud I used to grow as a kid in Colorado. Loved that pine tree essence! I have ordered Night Shade strain twice (based on it being described as piney), but neither ever arrived.

Indicator said:

Yeah, saw that, if I could trust Chic. customs to let it through, I would spend more money on seeds. So far, Sannies is the only that has gotten through. I am literally toying with the idea to traveling to obtain some beans. If I hadn't just gone to the UK this past summer, I would go to Europe, but I really can't stomach being in coach twelve hours! Does anyone know if you can buy seed in Canada?.

Click to expand...

yeah, man wwe have seedbanks everywhere in canada they sell u seeds no problem in person....... well i dont know what they will do with people from the USA because of the hole Marc Emerry incadent... but id say theyd service u as long as ur there in person... but dont get ur hopes up id say just in case..... because no one wants to get kidnapped and brought to american soil and ppersecuted on american soil for commiting a legal act (in canada) on Canadian soil never touching american soil

I went with black based on reading various posts on this site. A few of the guys had good success with clear containers that were wrapped in metal tape to block out light. There are a few things in the grow bible that mentioned ways to maintain rigorous growth. One of them was keeping the roots slightly warmer than the canopy. Temperature differences influence growth in everything else so the idea is logical.

I'm put off with Attitude due to their process last night. Their system failed last night. We'll see how their customer service goes from here.



I'm heading out of town for 4 days early next week. I really don't want problems with the plants. I was considering placing the hempy buckets in containers that would allow water to be filled above the hole in the bucket. Ideas?

The seedling is going to struggle.

Tough call: do I show someone my grow and give them a key to my house or do I cross my fingers and hope the plants can survive for 4 days without checking in on them?

Girdweed said:

I went with black based on reading various posts on this site. A few of the guys had good success with clear containers that were wrapped in metal tape to block out light. There are a few things in the grow bible that mentioned ways to maintain rigorous growth. One of them was keeping the roots slightly warmer than the canopy. Temperature differences influence growth in everything else so the idea is logical.

I'm put off with Attitude due to their process last night. Their system failed last night. We'll see how their customer service goes from here.



I'm heading out of town for 4 days early next week. I really don't want problems with the plants. I was considering placing the hempy buckets in containers that would allow water to be filled above the hole in the bucket. Ideas?

The seedling is going to struggle.

Tough call: do I show someone my grow and give them a key to my house or do I cross my fingers and hope the plants can survive for 4 days without checking in on them?

Click to expand...

you can grab a gallon jug if u can find a jug bigger hten a gallon get it bigger is better....... poke a hole in the bottom or cap with a pin, sewing needle, syringe what ever jug to that small like those nails would leave bigger holes which lets more water out maybe even too much. then fill with water put it in place then voila u got ur self a cheap ghetto drip system............. id suggest doign trail runs first to see how long water will stay in easy way fill full come back in couple hours put a line where water level is then another coupel hours do ti again adn u can see the water consumption rate then masure with ruler and then u need to do some math X amoutn of inches/cm's.. per hour ......and hte container can hold Y amount inches/cm of water say u loose .5"/h adn u have 24 inch jug filled with water (Y/X) = how long it can water ur plants u will have a bit more then 2 days(48 hours) of water..... yes i know it will be 48 hours with that but it will be longer because as u use water the pressure is reduced and less pressure means less water is being pushed out... so the drips will fall less frequently as it looses water..... it wouldnt greatly increase the lifespan of your watering jug it might only make it last maybe a few minutes longer or maybe a few hours


also u might need to put a hole on both the topa dn bottom so air can get isnide the container to fill in the space where the water use to be